‘Hamali workers are bereft of govt facilities’

Urging the fulfilment of their demands, State Hamali Federation district committee members staged a protest in front of the deputy commissioner’s office in Madikeri on Friday.

Addressing the protesters, state federation president K Mahantesh said, “Hamali workers play a vital role in the business activities. They are hard-working. There are over 5 lakh such Hamali workers working in different markets across the state. They carry loads of goods on their head to eke out a living. Unfortunately, they are denied facilities from the government.”

Hamali workers who come under the unorganised sector do not have any social security. They are denied welfare schemes of sites and houses from the government. The government should announce welfare schemes for Hamali workers, he demanded.

He said that the Samithi had been staging protests across the state for the last several years.

Though previous governments had given priority to some of the issues bothering the workers, no one fulfilled the main demands of the committee.

Samithi district president P R Bharath said the government should initiate measures to fulfil the demands of Hamali workers who hail from Dalit, the backward and minority communities.

He urged the government to chalk out housing programmes for Hamali workers utilising Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Devaraj Aras Housing scheme facilities.

Provident Fund facility should be announced. Smart cards have not been issued to Hamali workers. All the unorganised labourers who had applied should be distributed with smart card facility, he added.

Committee general secretary Hasanabba and others were present.